Aretha Franklin Has an Announcement You May Want to Sit Down For

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It's indisputable that Aretha Franklin has had one of the most influential, dynamic careers in music history. But now, it looks like that may be coming to an end--according to the legendary performer herself.

"I am retiring this year," she said to WDIV Local 4 in Detroit. "I will be recording, but this will be my last year in concert. This is it."

Franklin is set to reduce her number of performances following the release of her new--and final--full-length album this fall. Her last full-length album, Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics, came out back in 2014. While her last one featured many covers of songs by other artists, fans should expect her new release to be "multi-directional," as she puts it. And several of the new songs will be produced by her old friend, Stevie Wonder.

Following the album's release, Franklin feels good about her plans to step away from performing with her legacy firmly intact.

"I feel very, very enriched and satisfied with respect to where my career came from and where it is now," she said. "I'll be pretty much satisfied, but I'm not going to go anywhere and just sit down and do nothing. That wouldn't be good either."

Considering her decades-long career full of irresistibly catchy soul hits like "Respect" and "Think," we can't think of anyone more deserving of a break than Franklin. But in the meantime, we can't wait to see what she does with her final album! Stay tuned.